The Suring School Board is primed to ask voters for an extra $700,000 in each of the next five years, to address a budget deficit projected to be nearly $470,000 by 2017.
At Wednesday’s School Board meeting Superintendent Kelly Casper presented a financial forecast showing a downward trend in the district’s fund balance that would leave the district in the red in a few years.
“We need to do something,” Casper said. “We cannot wait.”
School Board members offered little input but unanimously directed Casper to develop an April 7 referendum proposal asking voters for permission to exceed the state-mandated revenue limit.
The district’s finance committee met prior to the School Board meeting to review referendum options for $300,000, $500,000, $600,000, $700,000 and more.
“As a committee we were leaning toward $700,000 for five years,” said Dennis Piepkorn, School Board president and member of the finance committee.
The referendum plan is scheduled to be approved by the board on Jan. 14.
In order to place a referendum question on the April 7 ballot, the board must pass a resolution by Jan. 24.
According to Casper, referendum funds would provide money for operational costs, technology enhancements and academic resources.
“We want to sustain what we have going now,” she said.
Casper said one operational concern is the aging phone system. Replacing it will cost an estimated $40,000.
Another concern is textbook costs. With the new Common Core standards adopted by the state, the district needs to change curriculum to provide resources for students to succeed in state-required assessments, Casper said.
“We need the resources to accommodate that material,” she said.
A third concern is technology. Suring does not have a one-to-one technology program, in which individual devices, such as laptops, are provided for students to use at school and at home.
“We’re behind,” Casper said, referring to the programs of other districts. However, Internet access is not available to every student outside of school because of the rural setting, she said.
According to financial estimates provided by the district, passage of a $700,000 referendum would cost $56 more annually for owners of property valued at $100,000. The 2014-2015 tax rate is $6.87 per $1,000 of equalized valuation, which means the owner of $100,000 in property pays $687 in school taxes.
The district is in its last year of levying $300,000 for roof replacement, so the net effect to the taxpayers would be $400,000.
For the 2013-14 school year, the district showed a deficit of $54,286. The estimated deficit for this year is $471,622, although Casper said she is “looking to save money with what I’m doing now without affecting the education of children in this district.”
Casper, hired in July, said staffing changes account for part of the ballooning deficit.
A continuing drop in student enrollment is another factor. Over the past 15 years, enrollment has gone from 655 to 410, a decrease of 245 students. Casper said the district loses about $9,000 per student per year in state aid for each student’s departure.
The forecast model showed the enrollment trend would continue, with an estimated drop of almost 4 percent for the 2015-2016 school year. In the past four years, the district has experienced an enrollment decline of 1 to 4 percent.
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